


The Powers that be

by Lakritzwolf



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Gen, Magnus fix-it, post season3a
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 20:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16562693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: Because everyone is going so wild on the Magnus Angst I wrote this after the third glass of whiskey(I know other kids have wine mums but I got three and sometimes wine just doesn’t cut it)because I need some nonsense to counter all that angst.





	The Powers that be

The loss of Magnus’ magic is on the front, back and centre or Madzie’s mind. And she riddles Magnus with questions. 

How does it feel? How does it work? How does he summon things? Conjure things? How does he paint his nails? And is, obviously, very distressed when he tells her that he can’t, because without magic, he can do none of those things. Maybe he can paint his nails, but he will have to learn that the mundane way. 

The others have tried to get her to stop, but Magnus had waved their concerns aside. Sure, talking about it all the time in so much detail hurts. But he wants to make sure, absolutely, undoubtedly sure for that little girl, that her magic won’t just vanish like his. That she knows his magic is gone because he made a deal, not because it just left. 

It could be worse. He hasn’t lost anyone, all the people he loves are still there. He is still there. 

The ‘for a while’ hangs in the air and Magnus tries to avoid it. Madzie is too young to understand immortality, or the loss of it. 

For a time, Madzie is more silent and withdrawn than she ever was. 

And then one day, she is gone. 

Catarina and Magnus look everywhere, they call Alec who helps, and in the end two warlocks – one warlock and one former warlock, that is – and a handful of Shadowhunters run through Brooklyn looking for a little girl because for some reason, no one can track her.

They meet back at Catarina’s that evening for a plan. Catarina is a mess, and everyone else is tense, and no one knows what to do. Then Catarina goes into Madzie’s room to get her favourite doll, in the hopes that something that has so much meaning to her could finally allow them to track her. 

She opens the door and freezes. 

Then she screams.

She is immediately surrounded by the others, and all of them stare in horror at the pentagram that is drawn with cheerfully coloured crayons on the carpet.

* * *

When Asmodeus feels his wards alerting him to the presence of someone approaching his house he immediately knows that it is not an inhabitant of Edom.

But the absolutely last thing he would have expected is a little girl with pigtails and pink Hello Kitty hairclips. He goggles at the little thing and is, for the first time in centuries, absolutely at a loss for words. 

“Are you Uncle Magnusens dad?”

_Uncle_ Magnus? What in all the...

The Prince of Hell straightens up and leans onto his cane. “I am Asmodeus, Prince of Hell, and yes, Magnus Bane is my son.” 

She doesn’t look at him, she _stares_. 

Her stare is intense. 

Now he registers the magic radiating off her, and it all makes a tiny bit more sense now. That child is a warlock, and a powerful one. But the only thing that this explains is why she made it here in one piece. 

“What do you want, child?” He asks, trying to sound intimidating and frightening. It usually works. The child is completely unfazed and Asmodeus tries several spells to crack the glamour that hides the true form of whatever it is he is looking at. 

There is no glamour. 

Just a little girl who _glares_ at him. 

“It wasn’t very nice, taking Uncle Magnusens magic.”

So _that_ what this is about. 

“And he thinks sending you will change my mind?”  
She shakes her head. “They don’t know,” she says. “They would have told me to stay home.”  
“And you should have,” Asmodeus replies, and his eyes glow. 

And she _smiles_.

“Your eyes are pretty,” she says. “Like Uncle Magnusens.”  
Asmodeus resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. “What do you want?!”  
“It wasn’t very nice that you took Uncle Magnusens magic,” she says again. “He’s very sad.”  
“Well tough luck for him, we made a deal. I help him, and I get his magic.”

She frowns and shakes her head. “It wasn’t nice,” she says for the third time.   
“I know!” He thunders. “I am a prince of hell, I don’t do nice!! And now get out!”  
“Your hair is pretty too,” she says and steps closer. “But Uncle Magnusens is prettier. He puts it up, and it looks pretty.”

Asmodeus is ready to throw her against the nearest wall when she is suddenly in front of him and softly tugs at his jacket.

“Please, Mr Prince of Hell Asmodeus, can Uncle Magnus have his magic back? He is very sad.”  
“A deal is a deal,” Asmodeus says. Of course he could crush her with one hand, but she is a powerful warlock, and she would put up a fight, and he just wants her out of his hair. “He agreed.”

She frowns. “But you are his dad,” she says. “You should help him because you’re his dad. Magnus helps me all the time with my magic and my letters, and he’s not my dad, just my uncle.” She smiles. “He’s not really my Uncle, but he is Catarina’s friend, and I can call him uncle. Like Uncle Alec, he’s not my uncle but he’s Uncle Magnusens boyfriend and-”  
“ENOUGH!” A wreath of red demonic magic erupts from Asmodeus’ body. 

It washes past her like water around a rock. 

He stares. 

She shakes her head. 

“That wasn’t nice,” she says, completely matter-of-factly and without a hint of approach. She sounds sad. Sad! “You’ll not get any friends when you’re angry all the time.”  
“I am a prince of hell, I don’t need friends!” He snarls. “I don’t want any friends!”

She stares. And if possible, she looks even sadder now. “You don’t have any friends?”  
Asmodeus inhales forcefully through his nose.  
“You’re all alone down here? Do you have no one who loves you?”  
“THIS IS HELL!” Asmodeus yells at her. “THERE IS NO LOVE DOWN HERE!”

Heaven and Hell and Edom’s eternal flames, he is a fallen angel and a prince of hell and he doesn’t want the pity of a little girl with pink hairclips! He doesn’t need anyone’s pity! What is he even doing here talking to her instead of crushing her under his foot like the bug she is?

He freezes. 

A pair of thin arms slings around his waist and she hugs him with all her strength. It’s ridiculous how little there is. 

She is _hugging_ him. 

She is hugging _him_. 

“I like you because you’re Uncle Magnusens dad and you have pretty eyes too. You don’t have to be mean. We can be friends!”

Asmodeus looks around. If anyone sees him like this he will never, ever hear the end of this and he is going to be the butt of every joke in Edom for the next seven centuries. 

She is the same age that Magnus was when Asmodeus had found him. He had been able to corrupt his son, but not completely before he had remembered his pathetic, pitiful human part and had left him. But for some reason he wouldn’t be able to corrupt her, not if she stayed with him for centuries. 

He realises his train of thought and has no idea where that thought even came from. 

And she is still hugging him. 

“Please Mister Prince of Hell Asmodeus, can you fix Uncle Magnus? Then he doesn’t have to be scared of you and you can be his dad in hell and he can be your son in Brooklyn and maybe you can visit us and drink tea? The grown-ups always drink tea and it’s so boring but maybe you like it because you’re a grown-up too? Aren’t you sad that you’re so lonely?”

Asmodeus feels as if his brain will begin to bleed out of his ears any minute. 

And she is still hugging him. 

That begs the question why he lets her do that.

To be honest....

...it feels kind of nice.

“We can draw pentagrams together if you like.” She smiles up at him.

Asmodeus closes his eyes with a small sigh of defeat.

* * *

Catarina sits on the sofa and is terrified.

Magnus is sitting next to her and is devastated. He thinks it’s all his fault, and nothing anyone says can convince him otherwise. 

Suddenly the door to Madzie’s room opens and she comes skipping out, humming _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_. She has a crayon in one hand and very purposefully kneels down and starts drawing on the floor.

Everyone stares at her. Magnus has his hands up in sheer reflex but of course, no magic appears. Catarina stares at her with magic flaring up from her fingers, but other than that, no one moves while Madzie draws a crooked pentagram onto the floor, her tongue sticking out in concentration. 

She draws a few hearts next to the pentagram for good measure. 

Then she gets up. “You can come up now Mister Prince of Hell Asmodeus.”

A blood red flame shoots up in the pentagram and everyone is on their feet in an instant. Every seraph blade in the room is glowing. Alec has his bow drawn and Izzy’s snake has turned into a staff. 

Asmodeus looks around, takes a deep breath through his nose and points at Magnus. 

“You,” he says.

Magnus swallows drily. Alec attempts to step in front of him, but Magnus pushes him aside and steps forward. 

“Father,” he says. “I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you but I’d be lying.”

“That’s not very nice,” Madzie says and crosses her arms.   
“Madzie...” Magnus sighs in exasperation. “He’s a prince of hell. He doesn’t do nice.”  
“Your dad has pretty eyes, like you. And he doesn’t want to be mean anymore.”

A falling pin would have sounded like a bomb of roughly five megaton. 

Asmodeus shakes his head and hold up his hand, palm forward. A surge of magic shoots out of it like a beam of blue light and hits Magnus square in the chest. He falls over with a grunt, and Alec barely manages to catch him. 

After a moment Magnus comes to again and shakes his head, blinks a few times, and looks at his father with widening eyes. 

Asmodeus takes a deep breath. “Don’t...” he says, in a slightly shaky voice, “...ever let this... girl child... anywhere near me. Ever again.” He looks at Madzie. “Send me back.”  
She frowns.  
Asmodeus rolls his eyes so hard they’re about to fall out of his head. “Please?”

Madzie smiles again and waves. “Bye Mister Prince of Hell Asmodeus. Will you come back for a cup of tea? Catarina can make blueberry scones.”  
“I don’t like tea.”  
“And blueberry muffins?”  
“I want to go home!” Asmodeus says, and is there a faint trace of despair in his voice?

“Bye,” Madzie says again and Asmodeus vanishes in another flare of blood red fire. 

Magnus stares at his hands. 

He snaps his fingers, and they are covered in blue light. 

Then he falls against Alec and starts to cry. 

Everyone looks at Madzie, who looks confused. “Why is Uncle Magnus crying?”  
“He is... happy,” Catarina tries to explain and wipes her own eyes. “Sometimes you are so happy that you cry happy tears instead of sad tears.”  
“Oh,” Madzie says. “I’m hungry. Can I have a cookie?”

Magnus takes a deep breath, wipes his eyes, and snaps his fingers. A big chocolate cookie appears in his hand, with white and milk chocolate chips. Madzie beams at him and sits down in his lap after grabbing the cookie. 

Magnus closes his arms around her and she snuggles against him, and for the first time, Magnus doesn’t complain about the crumbs all over his shirt.

* * *

Asmodeus drags both hands down his face and shakes his head as he limps towards the table. He is still shaking his head as he puts the quill back into the inkwell. 

He looks around, as if checking that no one sees him. 

Then he picks up a parchment with two pentagrams, one very sophisticated and intricate, the other scratched clumsily with wobbly lines and with a few ink spots. And a crooked heart next to it. 

The tips of his fingers light up in fire, and he holds the parchment close. And closer. 

The flames die before the parchment reaches them and Asmodeus shakes his head with a heavy groan.

He looks around again and slips the parchment into the pages of a book.


End file.
